TWENTIETH 

CENTURY 

POULTRY BUILDINGS 

and 

HOW TO BUILD 
THEM 



te 



w 



Published by 

EMORY E. BANKS, East Pembroke, N. Y. 

PRICE FIFTY CENTS 



TWENTIETH 

CENTURY 

POULTRY BUILDINGS 

and 

HOW TO BUILD 

THEM 



SI 



Copyrighted by 

Emorr E. Banks. 

1910. 



Published by 
EMORY E. BANKS, East Pembroke, N. Y 



<tf ' 












Introduction 



Success with poultry depends more largely on the proper 
construction of buildings than on any other one thing. The 
vital points that must be considered are as follows: 

1st. Comfort of the fowls. 

2nd. ( lonvenience. 

3rd. Location. 

4th. Cost of construction. 

This hook is intended for the progressive poultrymen-— 
the ones who desire practical up-to-date houses and fix- 
tures. 

I believe the reader will appreciate the fact that these 
pages do not contain a great variety of plans to suit every 
idea of both ancient and modern times leaving the would-be 
poultrymen at sea as to which is the best plan. 

Of course perfection in poultry buildings has not yet been 
attained and probably never will, however the best plans— 
the ones that contain the most advantages with the least 
disadvantages, can, I believe be "sifted" down to a very 
few. 

Yours for advanced poultry culture, 

EMORY E. BANKS. 



©GI.A268.1- 6 



Twentieth Century Poultry Buildings 



THE SCRATCHING SHED HOUSE. 

Most of the successful poultrymen consider the scratch- 
ing' shed and roosting' room style of poultry house to be the 
best. It has many advantages in its favor, the most im- 
portant perhaps is the many ways that it can be opened up 
and ventilated to suit all conditions of the weather. For in- 
stance: In the fall of the year on very frosty nights the 
windows in front of the roost-room may be closed, leaving 
the door and front of the scratch-shed open. When the 
thermometer registers about 25 to 32 degrees Fahrenheit the 
door between the roost-room and the scratch-shed can be 
closed (there should be an opening in this door from 18 to 
2-4 inches square according to the size of the roost-room) 
and when it gets down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and below T , 
close the curtains in front of scratch sheds. As summer 
approaches the curtain is hooked up and should not be used. 
The windows should be taken out and the doors left open. 

This style of house is much warmer on a cold winter night, 
as the roost-room contains only about half of the space to be 
warmed by the heat given off from the fowls' bodies. The 
roost-room is also warmer if placed between two sheds or 
at the east end of a shed. The fowls can keep much more 
comfortable in the day time as they can retire to the warmer 
roost-room when cold. They also seem more contented, as 
they can go from one room to the other, thus doing away 
with the disagreeableness of confinement to a large extent. 

The fowls seem to have an imaginary hiding place from 
strangers and unwelcome visitors, by retreating to the other 
room when they would otherwise become frightened. 

When "sweeping day" comes the attendant can shut the 
fowls in the roost-room while cleaning the scratching-shed 
and vice versa, and thus avoid having them underfoot. 

If one desires to mate up an extra breeding pen the 
scratch shed wi dome in play by putting in temporary roosts 
and nests. 

THE OPEN FRONT HOUSE. 

The next best to a scratch-shed and roost-room house is a 



partially open front "fresh-air" house, with its little roost- 
ing closet. There seems to be some extreme ideas in the 
construction of the open front. 

Some fresh air enthusiasts merely use cloth in place of 
windows, tacking it on the casing instead of a frame as they 
should. This not only shuts out much light and sunshine, 
hut also excludes considerable of the fresh air that the cloth 
window is supposed to give. Others will have the front all 
open, closed only by a curtain that can be opened at will. 
This is nothing more than a scratch-shed minus the roost- 
room. 

Then there is the Tolman fresh air house with the front 
all open and not even a curtain to protect it from "the 
bleak winds of winter." 

Whatever success they claim or may have had in these 
open fronts, it is a fact that these houses are much too cold 
for the comfort of the inmates. The secret of their "success 
is in having the snug roosting closets and keeping the hens 
busy from break of day until dark, and also extra heavy 
feeding. Now I believe in abundance of exercise, but this 
can be overdone like most other things. Fowls need a little 
rest during the day as well as at night and will do all the 
better for it. Even the Cornell laying house which is 15 
feet square and 7V> feet high in front with only one-fifth of 
the front open and a curtain frame to shut down on coldest 
nights is too much "open" for all weather. Their statements 
prove it. They said that more eggs were laid per hen dur- 
ing the winter where the pens were crowded than in the 
pens where they had plenty of room, with the same feed 
(per hen) and the same care, and the same kind of hens 
from the same flock. Of course it was warmer where the 
pens were crowded which goes to show that the house was 
too cold for its capacity. 

If we must have an open front house let us by all means 
have a "happy medium." 

One square foot open front to every six or seven fowls 
or 30 to 35 square feet of floor space is sufficient for this 
latitude in winter and this should be closed by a curtain 
in the coldest weather. 

Of course the windows should be open during mild 
weather. 



THE CLOSED HOUSE. 

The closed front anti-fresh-air house should be antique, 
but it is a. fact to be regretted that it is still very much in 
evidence. There are still a great many poultry raisers 
\vho are as afraid of a little fresh air on a cold day as the 
old folks used to be of "love apples." 

Just so long as this style of house exists, so will the cold 
roup and canker cures find a large sale. It is a fact not to 
be denied that more colds, roup, etc. have been caused by 
the want of a little fresh air than from all other causes 
combined. Of course the doors and windows can be opened 
in mild weather, but the frost will gather on the walls and 
roof on cold nights which will make the house damp more 
or less all the time during cold weatheT. That uncomfort- 
able chill is always perceptible in a closed house 

LOCATION. 
An ideal location for a poultry house would seem to be 
on a knoll sloping mostly to the southeast, in an orchard, 
but this is not always desirable as the orchard may not be 
conveniently located. Dry ground and convenience are the 
prime factors in location. If there are no trees, some quick 
growing fruit trees should be set out. 

THE FOUNDATION. 

A cement foundation is the best and the cheapest in the 
end. While short posts set in the ground might answer 
the purpose, they will rot out after a few years, and to 
make a rat proof house, fine mesh wire netting would have 
to be sunk in the ground which will rust in a short time. 

To build the cement foundation, stake out where the 
sills are to be. Then dig a trench about a foot wide and 
twenty inches deep or below the frost level and fill with 
small stone and cement. Then build a cement wall about 
ten inches above the ground, laying the sills on the wall 
before it sets. 

THE FLOOR. 

A matched board floor is the best, but it is more expen- 
sive than a cement floor, which is about as good if properly 
constructed. A gravel floor is all right only it is much 
harder to keep clean. From four to six inches of the sur- 
face should be thrown out and replaced with fresh gravel 
every now and then. 



6 

To build a cement floor till in about seven inches deep 
with small stone and about two indies of coarse gravel, 
tamping it down well. Then cement about an inch thick 
roan ling it up against the bottom of sill. The stone makes 
a porous bed which prevents the dampness from coming up 
through. This will be as warm and dry as any floor if 
covered with a thin layer of sand or loam and the usual 
scratching litter as all poultry house floors should be. 

HALLWAYS EXPENSIVE. 

What is called the Hunter plan of continuous scratching 
shed house is ten feet wide with scratch shed 10 x 10 and 
roost-room 8 x 10, without any hallway. The serious ob- 
jection to this style of house is in passing through so many 
doors in going from one pen to the other. Some poultry 
men have changed this plan by adding a hallway in the 
back, but these hallways are expensive, as they take up 
room besides adding to the cost of the house, and they only 
allow the fowls to be let out on one side of the house. The 
Feathen up-to-date house has an elevated hallway in front 
which is still more expensive, besides necessitating the un- 
desirable feature of a higher and therefore colder house. 

CONTINUOUS LAYING HOUSE— PLAN No. 1. 




(Continuous [_ayin^ Mouse- 



Plan No. 1 



Jcratch pe-N 
8X 14 Tt. 



D03T 
BOX 



R.O© £> T S 



Roost Roori 



2x4 



Ro O © T S 



Roost Koot-i 
& x \o\ p-r. 



D '^^ 



_^k 



Coop 

2X4 
Ft 



[] 



.DcratchPen 
flxi4 f-r. 



DU5T 
80X 



-HGRit hopper 



OPCN f"RONT 



Hall Way 

WINDOW 
I I 

Cj ROOND 



3 i Ft Wide- 
window OPtN TRONT 
' ' ' 

Plan . 



Scratch 
pc-n 

fixl4fr. 



Water pan 



OPtN TROUT 



|qlm>| ' 

fed 



tfnfi 



f^RONT of R005T PEN5-PLAN No. J 





Partition 5et ween Pcns-Plan No. I 

WtOCrE 



Partition Between 5med3-Plan No. I 



,y'^ 




■n, 



TOP "DlACiRAM 

Self 5hut»no door 
that 5wing5 bothway5 





TIN CONE 
DOUBLE FEED HoppER COVER FOR 
-+ FEET LONC WATER PAN 



NtSTS 

In this plan we have the desirable low house feature and 
have only half as many doors to pass through as in tire 
the usual scratch shed without hallway house (see ground 
plan), and these doors are self-shutting and swing both 
ways. There is no hallway except in front of the roost- 
rooms and this does not lessen the capacity of the house. 

The house is four feet high in the hack and six feet in 
front and eight feet to the ridge pole, which is three and a 
half feet from the front, making a short roof sloping to the 
south as will be seen in the illustration. 

The decided advantage of this roof over the single pitch 
roof sloping to the north is that it allows more "head 
room" for the same height of roof. For instance if you 
had a single pitch roof four feet high in the back and eight 
feet high in front it would he seven inches lower in the 
center with the same cost to build an dthe same amount of 
air space. There is some objection to having eaves in 
front however Y-shaped troughs can easily be made out of 
four or live inch boards to carry off all the drip in front. 

The scratch sheds are 8 x 14 feet and the roost-rooms 



8 

S x 10y 2 feet. The hallway in front of roost-room is 3y 2 
feet wide. There is a sash door in front of roost-rooms 
with an opening fully as large as the window opposite with 
a half sasli window hinged in the lower half, which is 
dosed in cold weather, These doors should he placed 2^2 
feet or their width from the partition between roost-rooms 
to permit them to swing hack out ot the way when not in 
use. 

A handy coop 2 x 4 feet is placed three feet from the 
floor in the front corner of roost-room next to the shed. 
The side and end should he of lath with a door inside about 
PS inches square also door outside in the end next to the 
hallway. 

The roosts are in the hack end of roost-room with plat- 
form underneath. The roosts should he 2x4 scantling 
rounded broadside down, nailed to cross pieces and hung 
with heavy wire to the rafters. The roost platform should 
also he hung on wires. This prevents the lice from getting 
so much of a foothold as they do when cleats are nailed to 
the sides of the house. 

The nests arc shown in the drawing. They arc placed 
under the roost platform. They should be made 14 x 1(5 
inches on the bottom, 6* inches high in the front and 16 
inches in the hack and sides with a door 8 inches wide, 
hinged at the bottom to get the eggs. The bottom of the 
nests should not be fastened to the nests but hung to the 
roost platform by wires. A 5-inch board should be fas- 
tened to the bottom in front of the nests for a perch. 

The open fronts in the scratch shed are 2y z x 7 feet and 
3 feet from the ground. They are provided with curtain 
(cheese cloth) frames hinged at the top which hook up to 
the roof out of the way when not in use. 

A large three gallon water pan is placed in the partition 
between sheds next to the door and is then made to serve 
two flocks. The cone shaped guard above the water pan 
is made by cutting a piece of tin about two inches larger 
around than the pan. then cut a V-shaped piece out of the 
tin as shown in cut, turn in the edges so they won't cut the 
fowls' combs. Saw an "A" slit in the partition about 
three inches above the opening for the 1 pan. then slip tin 
in place and fasten it with a couple of shingle nails. 

The Feed hopper is also made to do double duty by plac- 



9 

ing it in the partition. It should be five inches deep, 12 
inches wide and 6 feet long. Two frames made of lath _ :; t 
inches apart are fitted over the top "A" shape, one of 
which is hinged as shown in the illustration. The grit and 
shell hopper is the same only shorter, being 18 inches long 
with a partition in the center. The hoppers and water pan 
rest on a platform about 12 inches wide and six to eight 
inches above the floor. This keeps them from being 
scratched full of litter as is the case when on the floor. 

The dust box or bath is about 8 inches deep, 2 feet wide 
and 4 feet long which stands on legs 18 inches from the 
floor. 

One of the most convenient time sawing fixtures about 
the poultry house is the shutting spring door that swings 
both ways. The top diagram of this door will be seen in 
illustration. As will be noticed the end of the door and the 
casing where it is hinged is beveled. This casing is set 
in or to one side the thickness of the door and strap hinges 
are fastened to the door on one side and to the casing on 
the other side. To make a tight door take a long strip 
of oilcloth and tack on in the same manner. A common 
door spring is put on each side of the door (as shown in 
diagram). As the springs conteract each other in holding 
the door stifly to its place, a catch or. jam (shown in dia- 
gram) is necessary. There should be about i/o-inch play 
1 ict ween door and the door casing all around, so that the 
door may not bind. A narrow strip of old rubber or leath- 
er may be put around edge of door to make it tight. 

In building the house, 2x4 inch scantling may be used 
throughout for the frame work. 

Use two scantling for the sills, breaking joints and spik- 
ing together. It is not necessary to have studding or cor- 
ner posts if the siding is well nailed to the sills and plates. 
A cheap grade of lumber covered with prepared roofing 
may be used at a saving in cost and is just as good. Nepon- 
set Red Rope Roofing for the sides and Paroid for the roof 
is considered by many poultrynien to be the best. For the 
more northern climate it is advisable to line the roost- 
rooms when they are exposed to the weather, leaving a space 
of 4 inches which should be packed with some material that 
is a non-conductor of heat and cold, like fine straw or hay. 



10 
CONTINUOUS LAYING HOUSE— PLAN No. 2. 




Continuous Lavingt House- Plan No. C, 



naif window 
Haul-Way \ 



nnr window 

,'3i f T Wide- 



Scratch 
Shed 

6 ^ 14 Ft. 





" 


» 1 














R.003T5 


ROODT5 














]. , 


B. ,.C 





Scratch 

2>H E-D 

6X ItTT- 



OP6-N Front 



j Roost room 
6 x iOi ri 



W IN DOW 



ROOST- ROOM 

8 x iOi Ft 



OprM Front 



VfATE-R. Pan 



feeo Hoppe-R^. 



mG-R-ITANO^MELl 
HOPPER 



G-R.OUND Plan 



Tliis plan is similar to Plan No. 1, as will be seen by il- 
lustration, except that the hallway is in the back part of the 
house intsead of the front. This necessitates having the 





Partition Between. Pens- Plan No. 2 Partition Between 3he-ds- Plan No.2. 



coop "coop 

> Oooft , [i OooR 



■e- 



-s- 



kocot Platform docr 



I coop ; "coop 

DOO R I El OoOR 



43- 



©— 

Roost Platform Door 



DOOR To NESTS 

-Q £9- 



Back op Roost Rooms - Plan No. £ 



11 

back 6 feet high, the same as the front, which increases the 
cost of the house and makes it somewhat colder on account 
of more air space, unless ceiled overhead. On the other 
hand it is much more convenient. The dropping- board 
may be cleaned and the eggs gathered from the hallway — 
a decided advantage over the front hallway. 

About the same arrangement for the roosts, nests, water 
pans, feed hoppers, etc. is made as for Plan No. 1, except 
of course the nests are next to the hallway with a board in 
front to darken them as will be noticed in the diagram of 
the partition between pens. 

The coops above the roosts serve to keep the fowls more 
comfortable while on the roost, besides the many other 
ways in which they are useful. 

An opening about two feet square and two feet from the 
floor, should be made in the partition between scratch-sheds 
and roost-rooms next to the front end for fresh air. 

THE BREEDING HOUSE. 




T^KEE" P^N f3f\EEDIN^ M ou 5 E: l°X24 FEET. 



Roosts P-oo st e> 



PE M 

<3x io n. 



© 



Pen 

8 X IO Ft. 



T<oo ^T £> 



© 



pErN 
6 X IO Ft. 



.1 



a 



Cjround Plan 
The next illustration shows a three pen breeding house 
10 x 24 feet, which makes each pen 8 x 10. It is 6 feet high 
in front and 4 feet in the back with a short roof sloping to 



12 



tli; 1 south. The doors in front are 2 feet wide with open- 
ings in the door IS inches square. The windows are six light 
8 x 10 inch glass. The front doors can be opened in good 
weather, which practically tuins the house into a scratch 
shed. The scratch shed plan would not he practical for 
such a small house as it would make the pens too small. 

THE FARM POULTRY HOUSE. 




FARM / D ot/z.r/5.y //c^j/r /ox^o^-t. 



} 



/o x/o rr. 



/ox /o 



I DOOr 

P wir 



PEN 



/O X to 



\fv/1\fOOW 



5hed 

/OX/O F"T. 



O oo /£. CO 

open mo 



coo* 



GROUND PLAN. 

In this illustration we have a good plan for a farm poul- 
try house or a poultry farm colony laying house. It is 10 
x 40 feet with two scratch sheds and two roost rooms each 
10 x 10 feet. The back side is 4 feet high and the front 7 
feel with the roof all sloping to the north. 

Of course only one roost-room and scratch-shed may he 
built where only one flock is wanted, but for an egg farm 
on the colony plan, I should build these double houses and 
let one flock have their freedom every other day as I know 
they will do just as well, if not a little bit better, than when 
they are allowed free range every day. 

A LOW FRONT LAYING HOUSE. 

This illustration shows a house that was built of second- 
hand lumber all 4K. foot lengths. It is 14 by 28 feet and 
4>/j feet high both in front and hack. The sills are 4x4 
inches and plates and rafters 2x4, no studding being used. 
The fresh air openings in front are 2 by 4 feet, with two 
single sash slide windows in front and one at each end. 
This style of house does very well for one or two pens, as 






f 


ROOST5 


B.O OS TS 










'O 








V 






z 


P£N J4 x 14 Ft ( 


) Pen 14 x i4 Tt 





z 


. i 


V 


J 


J; 


.3 




D 




1 


• 


f' 






open winoqw 


WNOO* OPEN 





the windows in the cuds allow the sun to shine in the back 
part of the house sometime during the day. 

COLONY HOUSES. 




EXERtlSINO 

CHAMBER 

3k x4iFEeT 



CHAMBE R_ 



Cpmbination Brooder an ° Colony Mouse- 



14 

The Style "A" Colony House is quite popular on some 
oi the largest and most successful poultry farms. The 'A" 
House illustrated is 5 feet wide, 8 feet long, 7 feet high in 
the center and 18 inches at the eaves. The two windows 
are 3 light 8 by 10 inch glass hinged at top and have long- 
wire hooks to fasten them open when desired. The door is 
two feet wide with an opening 18 inches square which is 
provided with a cloth frame when the house is used for 
young chicks. A light wire frame door also fits inside and 
is hinged on the outside door to swing the same way and 
hooks on to this door when not in use. All the frame 
needed for this house is two sills or runners 2x6 inches 8 
feet long, two 2 by 3 plates and one ridge pole 5 feet long. 
Nail 5 foot boards to runners for the floor; build up the 
ends next and then put on the roof which takes 7 foot 
boards. Fasten cleats under the out edge of roof to nail to, 
the back and front sides. Second grade lumber may be 
used and covered with Neponset Booting, in fact I think 
this better than the best matched lumber. 

THE STYLE "B" COLONY HOUSE has proven itself 
very satisfactory. It is also 5 by 8 feet, 3 feet high in the 
hack and 6 feet high in front. The door and window have 
practically the same arrangement as the Style "A" house. 
(See illustration). 

THE COMBINATION OUT-DOOR BROODER AND 
( !OLONY HOUSE is VA by 8 feet, 4 feet high in front and 
2y 2 in the back. It has a removable nursery 3 by 3 feet as 
shown in the ground plan. This nursery is only 10 inches 
high and has a cloth frame cover hinged at the back and 
which fits tightly against the window and door in front. 
The door in front of the nursery is 33 inches wide with a 3 
light window 8 x 10 glass at the bottom so as to light the 
inside of the nursery. The other door is 30 inches wide 
with a 4 light sash hinged at top with wire hook to fasten 
it open. 

The lamp box, heater and hover part of the home-made 
brooder described on next page (or any brooder heater) 
can be used in this house, but should be arranged so il can 
be easily taken out when not in use. The runners must be 
9 inches wide to raise the floor high enough for the lamp 
box underneath. A loose board should be fitted in lie- 



15 

twesn the runners at each end to prevent the wind from get- 
ting under the floor. 

A PRACTICAL HOME-MADE BROODER, 




vSlDE DjAOR^AM 



Glads 

'O x i<3 



35I55E: 



BQARlT 



TR.ONT ELEVATION 




Back Elevation Showing Lamp Box 



I have used the brooder shown in illustration for many 
years and the only fault I find with it is that the chicks 
have to climb to get into the brooder However, they don't 
seem to mind it after the first few days. The side diagram 
shows the brood chamber at "C" which is 32 inches each 
way, 9 inches high at the back and 17 inches high in front. 
"B" shows the lamp box which is 12 inches wide 22 inches 
long and about 8 inches deep according to height of lamp. 
"D" is a dome above the lamp which is nothing more than 
a large deep pressed tin basin soldered to a piece of tin 
large enough to fit over the top of lamp box. The tin is 
held to its place by nailing a one-inch strip to the top edge 
of lamp box which forms the hot air chamber shown at 
"AA". Four %-inch fresh air holes are bored into thel 



16 

hot air chamber in the manner shown at "FF." "R" rep- 
resents the "register" which is 3 1 /, inches above the floor 
and 11 inches in diameter with tine perforated tin around 
the top edge l 1 /. inches wide. "H" is the hover which 
should be round and '2'2 inches in diameter with six inch 
wood screws for legs as shown at "SS." The hover is "up- 
holstered" with strips of flannel by 2 inches wide which is 
tacked on in ruffles outside the "register." A strip with 
slits cut about every two inches is also fastened around 
edge of hover. The lamp is the heart of the brooder and 
a good safety lamp made especially for this purpose should 
be used. A piece of tin about 11 by 20 inches with a knob 
on the end will answer for a lamp slide. The bottom of 
lamp box may also be of tin and the sides and end lined 
with asbestos — also the floor of brooder above the lamp box. 
The door to the lamp box should have a three inch hole 
for ventilation and if exposed to the winds a glass should 
be fitted on the door cleats leaving an open space at the 
bottom of door (inside) of at least 1 by 6 inches. 



TIIK "A" BROOD COOP. 




5tyle'A" Brood Coop 



Run Used With A" Coop 




5q.uare Brood Coup 



Feedino, Rack For Chicks 




Chick Ffco Trough nest box for 5ett.no hens 



17 

For the natural way of raising chickens the style "A" 
coops answers its purpose about as well as any. It is 
easily made, takes little material and sheds rain better 
than any other coop. The size of the coop in the illustra- 
tion is 34 inches long in front and 24 inches wide. The 
sides (roof) are 30 inches long. The floor is removable 
and fits inside the coop and is nailed to a 1 x 4 inch piece in 
the manner shown at k 'B", the coop resting on the same 
piece. The "A" slat coop used with this coop is 34 inches 
wide and 4 feet long. It is made of lath 7 / s of an inch apart 
(1 inch wire netting may be used in place of lath). The 
shelter board shown at "C" is placed between the coop on 
<oll nights, in the manner indicated by the dotted lines. 
To let the chicks out and still confine the mother hen, draw 
the coops apart -21^ to 3 inches. 

SQUARE BROOD COOP. 

The next illustration shows a brood coop 30 inches 
square, 24 inches high in front, 16 inches high in the back. 
This coop may easily be built out of a dry goods box near- 
ly the right shape and size. To get the desired slant to the 
roof, take an eight inch board 30 inches long and saw it in 
two pieces in the manner shown at "D." A drop door 14 
by 30 inches is placed in front. It is best to have a slat 
coop or run 30 by 48 inches and 16 inches high. ■ 

CHICK FEEDING HACK . 

Where chicks and old fowls are allowed to run together, 
a slat feeding coop or rack is necessary to keep) the older 
ones from eating up the chicken food. 

The feeding rack illustrated is 16 inches high, 24 inches 
wide and five feet long, or it can be made longer if neces- 
sary. It is made of lath sawed in three pieces for the sides 
and two pieces for the top The lath is nailed to 1 x 3 inch 
strips 2% inches apart. The feed trough used in the rack 
is simply a board one foot wide and a foot shorter than 
rack with a 2 inch strip nailed around the edges. 

THE SETTING HENS' NESTS. 

Take a box about 16 inches high, 18 inches wide and 30 

inches long. Make a closed double nest with a drop door 

in front as will be seen by the illustration. I find this nest 

1o be the most satisfactory for setting hens. Better hatches 



18 



can be secured by shutting the hens on the nests and let 
them off at a regular time every day. Shut the door so 
they can't get back on the nest until the eggs cool enough. 

THE TRAP NEST. 




A Simple Trap Nc^t. 
A simple, yet a most convenient and effective trap nest 
is shown herewith. It is 16 inches high, 15 inches wide and 
18 inches long. The top projects over the front 3 inches 
to make sure of catching the door. The door and trip are 
made of lath and both are nailed to a three cornered piece 
which holds the pivot. The hen steps on, the trip as she 
enters the nest, which pushes it down and this raises the 
door, which catches into a latch at top of nest as shown in 
illustration. 

DRY MASH HOPPER, 



*** 




A 5ELf Feedinq Hopper tor DryMash 



Everyone who has had any experience with dry mash 
hoppers knows how difficult it is to make one that will work 
freely and at the same time not waste the feed. The hop- 
per here shown is 6 inches wide, 24 inches long, 24 inches 
high at the back and 18 inches in front which must be 
straight up and down. The mouth of hopper is 4 inches 
deep and 5 inches wide. Lath is placed in front 2' ._. inches 



19 

amit to keep the hens from throwing out the feed. A tin 
is ]>iit in the bottom as indicated by the dotted line to carry 
tli? feed towards the front. 

PORTABLE FENCE. 




Portable. Fence Panel with gate. 




Portable Fznce Panel 

( hie of the handiest things about the poultry yard is a 
few lengths of portable fence. A small yard can be set 
up anywhere in a few minutes. 

The illustration shows a panel with gate and one without 
gate 1 . One pane] in every tour to nine should be made with 
gate depending on the size of yards most likely to be want- 
ed. The panels are 12 feet long and 4 feet high (or higher 
for Leghorns). The frames are made of 1 by 4 inch strips. 



20 

Tlie middle strips should be 1 ' - or 2 feet below the top 
wire. By using 1 inch mesh wire below the middle piece and 
two or three inch mesh above, the panel may be used for 
either fowls or chicks. A shoe, as seen in illustration, takes 
the place of posts. The opening in the center of shoe 
should be wide enough to admit two panels, so to let them 
slip by about four inches. A narrow piece about three 
inches long nailed to panel on each side of shoe at top holds 
it to its place. The shoe should be about four feet long and 
two feet high. 



Handy Egg Record and 
Poultry Account Book 

A 12 Months Record for 12 Pens 



The simplest and most convenient 
system ever devised for keeping 
an accurate record of eggs laid, rec- 
ord of hatching, income and expense 
account, etc. 

Printed on the best paper that will 
not blot, and bound in extra heavy 
dark colored paper cover. 
Price 15 cents. 

For sale by the leading poultry papers and supply 
dealers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the pub- 
lisher. EMORY E. BANKS, 

East Pembroke, N. Y. 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
hi l 2\ nw 



I ML 2 



SSSLSL co ^ress 




002 838 826 3 • 



